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Queensland solicitor to be removed from roll, compensate client
A tribunal attached to the Supreme Court of Queensland has recommended that a lawyer be removed from the roll of practitioners for depositing $20,000 of a client’s payment into her own private account, contravening the Legal Profession Act 2007.
Naomi Neilson
The Legal Services Commissioner brought two charges against Jasmine Dominic for first receiving payments from a client inappropriately and engaging in legal practice when she did not have an open practicing certificate, both amounting to professional misconduct.
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The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) has recommended that she be removed from the roll, as her former client prepares to launch a compensation challenge. In terms of being removed, Ms Dominic has not yet mounted a substantive challenge and the decision will be determined in a later hearing still yet to be fixed.
“This conduct of [Ms Dominic] amounted to breaches of statutory and legal requirements as to allow a finding that the conduct involves a substantial and consistent failure to keep a reasonable standard of competence and diligence,” QCAT court documents read.
From March 2014, Ms Dominic provided legal services to a client, referred to as “Ms Smith”, in a matter with Westpac Bank. At the request of Ms Dominic, Ms Smith deposited many payments directly to her via cash or by a direct debit, rather than to the firm.
No bill or invoice was ever issued by the firm Suffolk Law, of which Ms Dominic was then employed at the time. The tribunal found it was clear that the payments were never paid into a trust account, let alone a trust account managed by Suffolk Law.
While still employed with Suffolk Law, Ms Dominic attended a mediation on behalf of her client. She informed a Westpac Bank representative that the settlement payment – worth $20,000 – was to be paid directly into her account, named “Enlightened Justice”.
This account was not a trust account, and the tribunal found this conduct to be a serious and repeated breach of the fundamental legal and fiduciary obligations of a solicitor.
“[The matters] involve a serious departure by a legal practitioner from all the fundamental requirements of probity which must be observed when a solicitor is dealing with a client’s money. It is essential for clients to be able to have utmost faith and confidence in their solicitors when entrusting the solicitors with their money,” QCAT noted.
“It is similarly vital, in order to maintain public confidence in the profession, that solicitors ensure that [monies paid] to them are strictly accounted for, strictly traceable and are strictly dealt with according to the law.”
